


The Great Bunny Debacle

by AllHailBurnoel



Category: Naruto
Genre: Blind Tobirma, Bunnies, But like funny ones, Gen, Hashirama goes a bit stir crazy but then he reels himself back in, Hybrid AU, Hybrid!Tobirama, Identity Reveal, Mistaken Identity, Misunderstandings, Sort of kidnapping, Wolf!Izuna, Wolf!Madara, bear!Hashirama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:22:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22055497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllHailBurnoel/pseuds/AllHailBurnoel
Summary: Madara hates winter patrols, nothing fun ever happens on winter patrols. Until something does happen of course
Relationships: Like a child/parent relationship, Might eventually add some more pairings if I continue this, Not Slash - Relationship, Senju Tobirama & Uchiha Madara
Comments: 24
Kudos: 260





	The Great Bunny Debacle

**Author's Note:**

> Soooo. This is another au that me and KitsuneSongs brainstormed up on our discord. Also this is edited on like three days of me not sleeping so its probs full of mistakes.

Madara grumbled to himself as he picked his way through the forest. There was nothing he liked less that doing a solo patrol in the middle of the woods in the middle of winter.

Well. 

He might hate dealing with the elders and paperwork a little bit more, but solo patrol was a solid third!

It was always boring, cold and annoying. He never even saw anything worth reporting about. He thought that as clanhead he would manage to get out of doing solo patrol but no! He’s still stuck doing them. His ears were freezing, his tail was freezing, he’s pretty sure his armor was freezing, it was too cold for anyone to be outside. 

The only thing even moderately worth noting was that he had caught the trail of some deer that his clan could hunt. Judging by the amount of tracks that had been left, the herd was sizable enough to be worth running down and killing. The clan wasn’t hurting for food at the moment, but it would be nice to have an ample amount of venison to celebrate the upcoming marriage hunt that would take place and some of his younger cousins had been getting restless and rowdy with the lack of excitement. 

Speaking of excitement, there hadn’t been a single sighting on the Senju front. Not a single patrol or skirmish, not even a whisper was to be had near the border. It was admittedly strange, even though the battles had been getting fewer and farther between given Hashirama and his own ascent to clanheads. 

That lack of activity was part of the reason he was out in the cold freezing his balls off. 

More worrying was the lack of any sightings of either Senju main family member. Not a single patrol, not even _Madara_ had seen hide nor hair of Hashirama or his albino brother. 

And Madara had definitely tried to catch a glimpse of them. 

He had been out on six different single patrols in the last week, flaring his chakra, sending out grand fireball after grand fireball, trying to get his former best friend to rise to his bait. Yet he got nothing. 

If he didn’t know better he’d think that Hashirama had finally given into his bear half and gone hibernating! 

He had even gone to their old meeting place by the river and found nothing. It was unsettling to say the least. 

Today’s search hadn’t given him anything new either. He’d spent nearly six hours out in this frigid weather and all he had to show for it was some deer tracks and the faintest flash of chakra that he could have sworn was from The White Demon. Not that the flash had led anywhere. It was there for just a split second and then gone again, and even in his wolf form he had been unable to pick up a single trace of the man.

What he would have done if he actually managed to stumble upon Tobirama in the wild, he didn’t quite know. It wasn’t as if he really interacted with the alibno that often or even at all. Besides seeing him fight Izuna on the battlefield he never really saw him. 

“This is worthless,” He sighed, scuffing the tip of his boot against the cold, hard ground. Madara was about to turn and start heading back to the compound when he feels another quick flash of chakra on the edge of his senses. “You’ve gotta be kidding me, I was just about to head home!” 

With an irritated growl he turned in the direction of the flash and started running. It didn’t take him long to get to where the flash had come from, and as he dropped down from the trees he reached his own chakra out. Nothing. There wasn’t even a miniscule trace of that chakra, and it had been there and gone so quickly that he hadn’t been able to get more than the barest hint of it. 

At least before he had been sure that the chakra flash had belonged to Tobirama, but with this one he wasn’t so sure. What could have possibly moved fast enough to get out of his sensing range like that? 

With a huff he squatted a little closer to the ground, unleashing his inner wolf just a little bit as he tried to use his superior sense of smell to find whoever was there. Immediately he could smell the scents of the forest around him. 

The stinging smell of the frost, the fresh smell of pine needles, the smell of the few small prey animals scurrying around the forest floor and up in the trees. There wasn’t anything else lingering but the natural scent of the forest. Whatever had been here was clearly not anymore. His eyes opened slowly and his armor shifted, dragging against the bulk of his underclothes. A quick shuffle had his armor resettling, relieving the small weight along his left side as he stood.

He turned on a dime and started making his way back to his compound. He was done chasing phantom flashes of chakra and more than done being out in the cold. 

______

* * *

He was having such a nice dream. He was home, enjoying the fruits of a nice long midsummer hunt with his brothers, with a full belly and the warmth of summer blazing down against him. All four of his brothers were with him, safe and sound, full of fresh meat and dozing under the sun in a giant puppy pile by the entrance to the gardens. Everything was perfect and as it should be. 

Of course nothing perfect ever lasts, and for Madara it lasted even less. 

He startled awake at the feeling of something pressing against his throat, within a split second his hand was already grasping the kunai hidden beneath the head of his futon and he was sitting up, ready to kill whoever had the gall to attack him in his own bedroom. 

But he didn’t find any foreign shinobi standing over his bed, there wasn’t even a single soul in the room with him, and he was so keyed up about the sudden threat that he almost missed the incredulous squeak and the feeling of something small and soft tumbling down his chest and into his lap. A look down quickly revealed that the source of the squeak was...a bunny? 

Not just a bunny, but a tiny bunny _hybrid_. There wasn’t much difference between an actual animal and a human hybrid in their full shifted form. But there was _some_ little differences. There was a subtle difference in the smell of an actual animal and a shifted hybrid. Something distinctly human clung to the animal form of a hybrid. 

The younger or weaker the hybrid was the harder it was to catch the scent, and strong or smart hybrids could almost mask the distinction, but no one could completely mask it. 

The bigger question on Madara’s mind, however, wasn’t whether or not he had accidentally picked up a stray animal or a stray hybrid, but rather _how_ he managed to pick up a stray. The bunny wasn’t even as big as the base of his palm. Which meant it was an incredibly young hybrid...with this possibly being its first time shifting. 

How could this baby have gotten into his room? 

He was sure that none of his clan members had been pregnant, or had given birth recently enough to have a hybrid this young and even barring that, there were no _bunnies_ in his clan. Almost every since member of the Uchiha clan was some type of canine hybrid, with the few exceptions being other types of predator hybrids. There hadn’t ever been a prey hybrid born into his clan as far as the birth records were aware. 

But that meant the bunny had found its way to his clans compound from somewhere else. And even counting civilians, he couldn’t think of any settlements that were close enough to the Uchiha compound for a hybrid this young to travel. A bunny this size and age wouldn’t be able to travel more than a couple leagues in a day. 

Madara reached a hand down, gently pushing at the bunny until it rolled over onto its stomach. It let out a disgruntled chitter and hopped onto his palm, shaking out its fur as he brought it closer to his face. 

He had to admit it was a pretty bunny. Pure white fur, with two floppy ears hanging over the side of its face, and two bright red eyes blinking down at his palm furiously. It shuffled around a little bit, trying to reorient itself before it turned and hunkered down on the palm of his hand, promptly drifting off to sleep without even looking at him. 

To say Madara was shocked was an understatement. He’d never seen a prey hybrid, even one this young, be so relaxed around a predator it had never met before. He’d never had a prey hybrid fall asleep in his presence, _period_. They usually saw him and turned tail, even the adult prey hybrids tried to avoid him when they could. 

Yet this bunny hadn’t even spared him a first glance before snuggling into his hand and drifting off for a nap. 

Clearly the little thing was tuckered out from whatever adventure it had gone on, and was tired enough to not even care about being in the midst of a predator. He couldn’t stop the soft coo that came out of his throat even if he wanted to - he didn’t - and he shifted so that he could pull his blanket out from under himself and gently wrap the bunny up in it. 

He bundled the bunny up, wrapping the blankets around like a little nest until just a small patch of stark white was barely visible. He set the bundle down at the head of the futon, leaving the bunny to his rest. 

His first order of business was to go ahead down to the archives and check the hybrid registry. He was almost completely certain that there were no prey hybrids, or even any babies born recently in the clan, but he wanted to double check. There would be no point in stressing out a set of new parents looking for their child if he had the child in his rooms, and for all he knew a baby might’ve been born during a skirmish or while he was away on a mission. 

______

* * *

So his trip to the archives ended up being a dud. Just like he thought there hadn’t been any births recently, and there hadn’t been a single prey hybrid born recently or ever. 

The bunny resting in his room was clearly from another shinobi clan, or from one of the civilian villages nearby. Though Madara still couldn’t figure out where the prey could have come from. Realistically that bunny couldn’t have made it all the way from any of those villages. Even the _Senju_ were too far for a bunny that young to travel. 

He had even gone around to some of the more active members of the and asked if perhaps they had visitors that might have brought a prey hybrid along with them. That had been just as much of a dud as the trip to the archives. No one had had any visitors and since there were no visitors, there were no wayward prey hybrids that the visitors had brought. 

Which left him with a sleeping bunny and no other routes to look for information. He had already sent a few of the younger cousins in the clan out to the civilians to see if they had lost a hybrid, but he still needed to figure out what he was going to do in the meantime.

The first thing he was going to have to do was check on the bunny, once he made sure it was still sleeping he could go to the kitchens and ask what the hell a bunny hybrid would need to eat and if they even had the stuff necessary to feed a bunny. 

The walk to his room was thankfully uneventful, and when he got there the bunny was still sleeping. The little thing had clearly squirmed around the bundled blanket, and it was almost completely covered up except for the little snowball of a tail poking out from underneath the nest of dark fabric.

He couldn’t help but chuckle at the cuteness. He kneeled down, shifting the blankets until they were back in a bundle and then picking the bunny out. He flipped it long enough to discover that his new roommate is in fact a male bunny, before setting him back down into his new nest and covering him up with some loose edges of the blanket. 

His next stop was the kitchens. His new roommate would wake up at some point, and he was going to be a good host and have at least something edible waiting for when he woke up. 

_____

* * *

Apparently coming across fresh vegetables in a compound full of predator hybrids was harder than Madara had originally thought. He assumed all he would have to do was just pop into the kitchens, grab a few vegetables, and go back to his room to show his catch to his bunny and figure out which ones he would like the most. 

That was a severe underestimation. 

He never even thought about how little vegetables his clan ate, or how they were barely brought in from their civilian allies since they didn’t really need them to survive. Wolves get all their nutrition second hand from whatever meat they eat. If only bunnies could do that too. 

As it is he only has a stalk of fennel, some bok choy and some radishes to offer his bunny. It was a piss poor showing for a clan head, but it was all he had to work with. He made sure to tell the kitchens to buy in some extra vegetables from their allies so that he could have some more options for later, but this would have to do for now. 

Hopefully his roommate wouldn’t find him lacking. He truly hadn’t thought that he would have to take care of a prey hybrid, let alone one so apparently high maintenance as a bunny. And that was a shock too! 

One of his second cousins had been working in the kitchens and had overheard him talking about acquiring a bunny hybrid that he needed to take care of and had immediately started lecturing him about everything a rabbit hybrid would need to be kept in good health. 

He sincerely hoped that he could make his bunny comfortable enough to shift back in front of him. If he didn’t manage that, then he was going to have a much harder time taking care of this baby. 

Speaking of his bunny, the little guy was again still fast asleep when he returned for the second time. He was still tucked underneath the blankets but he was turned onto his side, his little back feet all tangled up in the covers. 

Madara gently picked him up, cradling his little body in the crook of his elbow after he set his array of vegetables on the edge of his desk. He laid back on the futon, pulling his second blanket over top of himself as he set the bundle of bunny down next to his arm. 

He had spent the whole day running around trying to figure out what he was going to do, he deserved to have a nice nap. Especially after his rude awakening this morning, and his little guy was sleeping anyway, so it's not like he’d be leaving him to his own devices. 

_____

* * *

His second awakening was much better. He was still pulled out of a nice dream, but this time he at least got to wake up slower. Not to mention he got to wake up to quite possibly one of the cutest things he’s ever seen. 

His bunny must’ve decided to migrate up to a warmer spot at some point during their nap, because he went from being next to Madara’s arm, to being plopped firmly in the middle of his chest. He had dragged one of the edges of the blanket over onto his chest, and was now laying half on the blanket, half on Madara. His cute little paws were sticking straight up in the air, one or the other twitching every so often as if he was caught up in whatever he was dreaming about, even his little nose was twitching back and forth. 

It was absolutely adorable. 

For the first time in a long time Madara felt himself smiling. He carefully sat up, keeping the prey safely against his chest as he moved around and yawned. He cracked his neck and set his bunny down on the blankets again, watching as he burrowed right into them like it was second nature and nearly disappeared into them. 

His little tail was once again poking out of the blanket and it took all of his willpower to not reach down and tweak that cute tail. “Are you ever going to wake up, little guy?” He whispered down at that tail. “I haven’t even had the chance to convince you to shift back!” 

The bunny just kept on ignoring him, slumbering away underneath his blanket without a care in the world. Madara gently stroked the tip of his finger down one of those stark white paws and chuckled as it twitched and kicked at his finger in retaliation. His tiny friend wiggled in place before those paws kicked at the blanket until his bunny was completely underneath the dark fabric. 

“Well, while you sleep I have actual work to do,” He gave one last forlorn pat to the bump in his blankets before standing up. “I’ll be back to check on you in a little bit, and hopefully you’ll be awake and hungry.” 

____

* * *

“Look at who’s finally awake.” 

Madara crooned at the sight of his blanket shifting around. He was halfway through eating his lunch, which for once in his life he had actually taken in his personal room rather than in his formal office where he would be available to any clansmen who might need him. 

He could hear a soft little clucking noise coming from his blankets as they moved around, and shortly after he was greeted by the sight of that little head popping out from underneath the covers. 

His bunny gave a soft heaving sneeze, shaking its head and finally coming to a rest with one of its ears flopped over the wrong way. 

He reached out, gently nudging that ear back to where it should be and waited for his new roommate to take his first look at him. 

It snuffled around a little bit, digging itself out of its furled nest of blankets and back to the real world. A hop and a few little shakes later and the bunny was finally taking its first real looks at its new surroundings. 

The second it met his eyes it squeaked and froze. 

No doubt the poor thing hadn’t been expecting to be staring a predator right in the face. 

Madara quickly shifted himself back to fully human, letting his ears and tail and sharper teeth dissolve into nothing, and then he smiled down at the bunny, “It’s alright, little one, I’m not going to hurt you.” 

The little thing was still frozen stock still on his futon, its beady red eyes staring straight at him. 

He huffed out a sigh, clearly the baby was afraid of him, but maybe its hunger would overwhelm his fear. A quick reach back to the edge of his deck had him grabbing at the radishes and he held them up in front of himself triumphantly. 

He set one of them down in front of the bunny and waited. 

And waited. 

His bunny was just sitting there, staring back and forth between the diakon and Madara’s face, not even budging an inch to try and take a bite. 

Madara’s head tilted to the side, “What’s wrong? Do you not like daikon?”, he looked at the other vegetables he had. He made a quick decision and grabbed both the fennel and the bok choy, and set them both down in front of the bunny as well. 

Again, nothing happened. His assortment of vegetables was just looked at like they were something alien. 

“Do you not like _any_ of them?” Madara bit his lip, tugging at it with his teeth. What was he going to do if his bunny wouldn’t eat any of the food he got him? He got the only types of vegetables his clan had in stock, and they wouldn’t be getting anything different for another week! 

This was not good. A baby hybrid couldn’t go a whole week without food! 

“Come on, little guy, you have to be starving,” He said anxiously. He tried nudging the vegetables closer, but that only had his new roommate scrambling and falling back onto his butt. 

The ball of white squeaked indignantly and shuffled himself back onto his paws. He shook out his fur and turned back towards the wolf in the room. It looked like the bunny was bracing itself for something. 

His bunny waddled forward a few steps, and placed one little paw on the edge of the daikon. Madara watched with anticipation, not even noticing when he half shifted until he could suddenly feel the tip of his tail wagging back and forth against his back. 

But _still_ the bunny didn’t even nibble on the diakon. He just patted his paw against the daikon and nudged it back towards Madara. 

“No, no, no,” Madara stuttered quickly, he nudged the radish back the way it came. “I don’t eat vegetables, those are all for you! You slept all yesterday and half of today, you need to eat.” 

He got another series of squeaks in return. The daikon was nudged back towards him and that paw was tapping at it again. It was only once his bunny hopped over to his own lunch, which he had set aside in favor of catering to his bunny, and tapped at one of the sliced up pieces of venison on the plate that he realized why he wasn’t eating. 

He was trying to feed whole vegetables to a _baby_ bunny. He was clearly an idiot and he didn’t blame his bunny for looking at him like he was an idiot. All of those vegetables were literally bigger than the bunny’s whole body. 

“I’m sorry buddy,” He grabbed the radish, moving off the futon to the smaller desk he had in the corner of his bedroom so that he could get one of his knives and start slicing up the daikon. He made quick work of cutting the radish into small pieces after quickly deliberating whether or not to leave skin on, and then rushed back with the cubed radish to sit it in front of his bunny. 

His bunny squeaked happily, and tapped his little paw against Madara’s hand as he went to pull away, and then dug into the pieces of radish. 

He was absolutely adorable as he ate. It took all of Madara’s willpower not to coo at the sweet little thing munching on the bits of daikon.

The clucking noise was back as well, soft enough to barely be heard over the crunching of the daikon, but it was loud enough for Madara to hear and that was all that mattered. Clearly his bunny was enjoying the food he had brought for him, now that he had made it edible, and that pretty much made Madara’s day. It had been so long, since back when his other little brothers were alive, that he had been able to hunt and bring a catch home for someone to eat. Izuna had long since grown big enough to catch his own meals if whatever the clan kitchens had in stock didn’t satisfy him. It was nice to have someone depending on him again. 

It didn’t take too long for the daikon to be almost completely gone, and in his glee at seeing his bunny awake and eating, Madara immediately grabbed the fennel and started chopping that up. The rabbit made a valiant attempt to eat the fennel as well, but he only got through a few of the fronds before he was waddling away from it, and collapsing onto his side with his little bulging tummy sticking out between his legs. 

A little satisfied noise eeked its way out of the bunny’s mouth as he licked his paws and started grooming his face. Madara couldn’t stop the coo this time and he watched, almost entranced, as those little paws scrubbed back and forth over that cute face. 

He scooped up the bunny, settled him down into the palm of his hand, and gently rubbed a thumb over his belly. A chitter was his reward for the impromptu belly rub, and his bunny snuggled against his hand. 

And promptly fell back to sleep. 

It seemed like this was going to be a pattern. 

______

* * *

“So you’re saying he’s alright? And in good health?” 

Noshiko, one of the best healers the Uchiha’s had in their entire clan, rolled her eyes and sighed. “Madara-sama, I am saying that, as far as I am aware, given that I’ve never cared for a prey hybrid - let alone one as high maintenance as a rabbit - he is not injured or suffering from any illnesses.” 

Madara subtly tried to pull the blanket his bunny had been laid on closer to him, “That’s a yes, right?” 

“It’s an educated guess.” She, completely unsubtly, reached over and scooped up the bundle of blankets and bunny, moving it out of her clan heads reach and further up the examination table. “He seems to be of a normal weight given his size and the apparent age you've given me, and you’ve already gotten him to eat. I’d say besides trying to get him to drink when he wakes up, and convincing him to shift back to his human form before it's too late, you’ve pretty much done everything right up until now.” 

Madara heaved a sigh and rubbed a hand over the bridge of his nose to try and ease the headache he could feel coming on. “Should I be worried about him not shifting back yet, I know that can get lost in their animal half, but he’s only been full shifted for a day and a half -” 

“And that’s already a long time,” She interrupted him, her attention focused more on the slumbering bunny she was poking and prodding rather than on her clan head, “If you’re right about his age then he’s only a couple years old at the absolute most. Prey hybrids are already more susceptible to losing themselves and no longer being able to shift back given that their instincts are harder to ignore, but children, both prey and predator are even more susceptible.” 

Her tone held none of the fond exasperation of before in it when she turned back to him, instead it was completely serious. “A day and a half might not be long for an adult, but to him even a day might be too long. Less than a day if this is one of his first shifts.” 

His eyes nearly bugged out of his head at that and he couldn’t help when his hand shot out and hovered over his sleeping bun at the sheer terror. “He might not ever be able to turn back?!” 

“I didn’t say it for certain, Madara-sama, just that it was a possibility. If how he acted when he woke up and ate in front of you is exactly what happened then I’d say that he’s still somewhat human inside of his shifted form. But you _need_ to get him to shift back as soon as possible.” Noshiko trailed her finger around the edge of one snow white ear and then wrapped the bunny up more snuggly in his blanket. Then she passed him back to Madara. “He’s probably scared at being away from his family and surrounded by adult predators, try and make him feel comfortable when he wakes up and _don’t_ scare him.” 

Madara nodded at her words and waited a few short seconds for her to bow before he all but fled the room. 

The walk to his office was incredibly somber. As much as he wanted too he couldn’t keep his eyes off the little bundle he was carrying. The little hybrid was still dead asleep, as if nothing in the world was going on around him, and Madara couldn’t get the thought of whatever little human that was in there being lost to its rabbit half. 

He hadn’t even had the bunny for two whole days and he was already so attached. Hell, his bunny hadn’t even been awake with him for more than twenty minutes and he felt like he was losing a piece of his heart just _contemplating_ his bunny getting stuck in his full shifted form. 

He couldn’t remember a time - barring the deaths of his three youngest brothers - that he felt so torn up just at the thought of losing someone. 

When he finally made it to his office he set the bundle down on the inner corner of his desk and tried to force his mind onto his paperwork. He was a clan head, and like it or not he couldn’t afford to shirk off his duties. Besides, there wasn’t a single thing he could do to help the little guy until he woke back up. 

The mission report and requests from his clan members had only gotten a few new additions in the time he had spent getting lunch, feeding his bunny, and taking his bunny to get checked over by the healers, so he had a decent chance at being able to get the majority of them done and sent back to the archives or back to the requester before his attention was otherwise occupied - before he bunny had reawoken and he started worrying about getting him to shift back.

______

* * *

Madara carelessly wandered the halls with his bunny safely ensconced in his arms. He had managed to finish a respectable amount of work before his mind had drifted back to his bunny. A few of the patrols he had sent out to the nearby villages had returned, and to his shock none of them claimed to have lost a rabbit hybrid, or lost _any_ hybrids from their villages. Even their allied clans hadn’t been missing any bunnies.

Which meant he was left with a family-less baby hybrid. And one the was running the risk of not being able to shift back to human. He really needed to get him shifted back before time ran out, and so that he could figure out his name. He couldn’t keep calling him ‘his bunny’ for the rest of his life after all, and now that he knew for sure there wasn’t any family looking to claim him, he was most definitely keeping him.

He could already feel himself getting attached to the little bunny, and he couldn’t just let the poor thing go in the middle of the woods and leave it out there all along to fend for itself!  
So now he was wandering around the main house, trying to figure out what all he could do to get his bunny comfortable with him. The food had probably done a lot to help the bunny feel safe around him, since he was able to pick him up and pet him before he fell asleep the second time, but he wasn’t sure if that would be enough for him to shift back to his human form.

Noshiko’s warning kept ringing around and around in his head. He wanted to make sure that his bunny didn’t get stuck forever in his hybrid form – though he would take care of him regardless of whether he could become human or not – especially when he hadn’t even gotten to meet his human form yet. He was hoping that a little walk around the main house, and maybe a stop by the garden could clear his head. He could think of some things to help endear the bunny to him, and to make him feel safe enough to shift.

Waking up by the koi pond might be nice for his bunny, and he could carry some of the bok choy he still had in his rooms out with him just in case he was hungry once he woke up. Though maybe this time he’ll only feed him a few pieces of the bok choy instead, so that he didn’t force him into a food coma.

Madara was just getting settled down on one of the benches overlooking the koi pond when his nice, peaceful, relaxing time at the pond was completely ruined. He carefully cradled his bundled-up bunny to his chest as Izuna stormed his way out of the main house, a pout firmly over taking his face. He looked like steam was about to start shooting out of his ears at any moment. “I take it your mission didn’t go well?”

His little brother stomped over to him, nearly toppling the bench over when he flopped down on it dramatically, “The mission went _fine_ ,” he hissed, crossing his arms over his chest like a child. Madara honestly thought that his hair would start bristling like the stray cats Izuna used to collect. “The assassins the Builders Guild sent after Lord Aminaki could barely even be considered hooligans, let alone actual shinobi.”

“Then why do you look like someone stole the last bit of venison loin right from in front of your face?”

“Everything was fine until I made it back home!” Izuna practically shouted to the heavens, and Madara reflectively pulled his bunny closer to him, curving his hand overtop of where those sensitive ears were so the bunny wouldn’t be startled awake. But still, the actual irritation and anger in his brother’s voice made him frown. He did a quick cursory glance over his brother’s figure, but he couldn’t see anything that led him to believe Izuna was injured. “What happened, then?”

“Your tree loving idiot and that psycho cousin of his nearly killed me out in the forest!”

What? Just - _what_? “What do you mean? _Hashirama_ tried to kill you? I didn’t get word of any skirmishes from the border patrols!”

“There wasn’t a skirmish! I was running through the damn woods and all of a sudden I slammed into that dumb bears back!” He huffed, “He was just standing there in the middle of the forest! And then he had the audacity to turn around and roar at me!”

“Why was he in the forest, there hasn’t been any sightings of any Senju for the last week.” Madara muttered to himself. The whole reason he had been out on single patrol had been because no one had seen a single Senju. Why would Hashirama have been in the middle of the forest?

“I don’t know!” Izuna wasn’t getting any calmer it seemed. “He had a bunch of rabbits hanging out of his pockets and he was yelling something to his cousin, but I was too busy trying to not get half my stomach ripped off by his big ass claws to listen to what he was yelling.” He flopped back down on the bench for a second time, again nearly toppling it over and almost smacking Madara in the chest with his flailing arms. “He looked like he was half mad when I finally got a good look at him, but he just stuffed a few more rabbits into his pockets and then took off.”

That…somehow sounded exactly like something his former friend would do, but at the same time it didn’t make sense. Hashirama wasn’t one to act crazy. He was an idiot, overzealous and overly friendly but he wasn’t crazy! And stuffing rabbits in his pockets? His brother must’ve seen something wrong. Yes. That must be it, Izuna just saw something wrong, or knocked his head on a low hanging branch, or tried to look himself in the eyes in one of their mirrors and genjutsu himself with the sharingan again. There’s no way Hashirama was hanging out in the forest stealing rabbits out of their dens. That was just absurd.

“Are you sure that’s what you sa-“

“Yes!” Annnd Izuna was back to fuming and looking like an over boiled lobster. “I know what I saw! This is _not_ like that time I genjutsu’d myself.” Izuna’s arms were again flailing, though this time they almost snagged the blanket right from his arms, and he couldn’t help but instinctively jolt back from the bench, keeping his precious bundle against his chest and out of the line of fire.

Izuna stopped mid-rant and looked at him strangely. Then his eyes slowly moved down to where his brothers arms were still curled tightly around his bundle of blankets and bunny.  
“What is that?” Izuna asked suspiciously, already taking a step towards him.

“What’s what?” Madara parroted back dumbly.

Izuna’s eyes squinted, and he sniffed the air. He took another step forward, and Madara took one step back. “That thing in your arms, bundled up in the blanket.” 

“There isn’t anything in my arms. It's just a bunch of blankets.”

Izuna was steadying himself for a pounce, his tail swaying behind him, his ears tilted forwards, his inky black eyes honed in on his blankets.  
Madara made one vital mistake, right as Izuna started lowering himself into a crouch. He took his eyes off a fellow wolf to look for an exit. The second his eyes moved from his opponent Izuna lunged for him. There was no way in hell Madara was going to let his brother tackle him to the ground with his bunny between them. His bunny would end up scared or squished or something even worse! So he dodged the lunge instead of meeting Izuna head on and grappling with him like he normally would.

But that only made his little brother more suspicious

Izuna lunged at him again, and when he dodged that attempt as well Izuna actually stopped and stared at him. Or, more accurately, he was staring at his bundle, with even more suspicion in his gaze. Madara braced himself to sprint back through the main door - and lock it behind him - but before he could Izuna was distracted by a noise. 

A soft questioning squeak coming from Madara’s previously sleeping little bunny. 

Izuna’s whole head twitched, turning on its side to try and hear that noise better. “What’s in there?” As soon as Madara’s mouth opened, his little brother was already growling, his eyes narrowed and agitated now that he knew something was actually there. “Why are you hiding something from me!” 

There was a subtle movement within the blankets when that growl traveled across the air, his bunny obviously getting curious and more awake now that he knew something was going on, and once he felt that subtle bit of movement, he couldn’t help it. He growled back. His wolf half wouldn’t accept any challenge to his authority and Izuna growled first. 

His brother looked honestly shocked at the growl, but he still didn’t back down. 

Madara wasn’t having that. Without letting his eyes drift from his brothers he crouched down just enough to set his precious bundle on the ground and then he was springing forwards, fully shifting into his wolf form as he flew threw the air. 

Growls and snarls wrent through the air as they fought, wolf against wolf, snapping their jaws and trying to get one another pinned down on the ground. Even while fighting Madara tried to keep his bites light and not hurt his brother. He wanted to assert his dominance but he didn’t really want to harm his brother. 

Eventually Madara managed to get the upper hand without being too rough, and got Izuna pinned to the ground on his belly, with the scruff of his neck clasped firmly between his teeth. He waited until Izuna started shifting back to his human form before he let go of his scruff. Izuna whined an apology underneath him as Madara shifted and pulled himself off his brother. 

He looked down at his brother shaking himself off, and without even a _slight_ hesitation he picked his brother up by the back of his neck and tossed him into the koi pond, relishing in the yelp his brother gave when he hit the water. 

When he turned back to check on his bunny he was treated to the sound of a chittering giggle, and there his little bunny was, have crawled out of his nest of blankets, sitting on his haunches and chittering at him. 

He couldn’t keep the smile off his face. “Did you like that, little guy?” He crooned as he leaned down to scoop him up into his hands, “Did you like watching that annoying otouto of mine getting thrown in the water?” 

He scratched under the bunny’s chin and nuzzled the top of his tiny head. “How about we go back to my room and get some more food in your belly? Then maybe we can see about getting you to shift back to human. I can’t keep calling you ‘the bunny’ anymore.” His bunny just squeaked up at him. 

_____

* * *

“I’m sorry buddy but you can’t come with me.” 

Madara gently picked his bunny up off of where he had hopped to stand on top of his under armour. He didn’t want to have to leave his bunny behind, by himself, for who knows how long, but they had finally gotten a sighting of a Senju patrol. He needed to be out there, leading his clan and hopefully figuring out why the hell the Senju had been silent on the battlefront for so long. 

He definitely couldn’t take his new little friend out there with him. Bunnies already aren’t made for battle, and his was far too young to even take out of the compound, let alone onto a battlefield full of danger. 

No. His bunny was staying right here, in his room, until he made his way back. And _hopefully_ he would be able to convince him to shift back to his human form. His early attempts hadn’t managed to convince his bunny to shift back, even after he had given him more food, and taken him to see some of the younger kids in the clan playing around in the main gardens, his bunny had still refused to shift back to normal. The threat of his bunny being stuck in his hybrid form forever was still lingering at the back of his mind, but he couldn’t let it get to him this close to a battle. 

“I promise it’ll only be a few hours and then I’ll be back,” He moved the bunny back off his under armour six more times before he even managed to get the damned thing on. 

He had to keep cooing and coaxing him off his armor as he tried to slip it on and tie it up and the little squeaks and tip-taps of bunny paws against the sheeted plating of his armor was completely heartbreaking. He turned and sat down on his futon, pulling his bunny into his lap and giving him a few pets under his chin. 

His gloved fingers were running over those pretty ears. “You’ll be safe here, little guy.” The kiss to that little head got him another squeak and a paw tapping at his cheek. “Now, let's get you swaddled up in your nest.” 

A few quick hand movements had his bunny once again tucked up nicely inside of his favorite blanket, and with one last pet to his stark white ears Madara set him down behind him on the bed and set about tying and shifting his armor until it was settled into place and not tugging on his under armour or bunching up. 

The armor easily settled into place, relieving the small weird pressure on the back of his hip and shoulder. With a sigh he stood up, shaking out his hair to get it to stop sticking to the back of his neck and then he hefted his gunbai onto his back and left. 

Time to go to battle. 

______

* * *

For the first time in his life Madara had to admit -even just to himself - that Izuna was right. 

Standing across the battlefield from the Senju for the first time in over two weeks, Hashirama did not look good. He looked like he was one small step from diving off the deep end. His normally silky straight hair was in disarray, his tanned skin had a sickly gray pallor to it, and he had dark circles under his eyes. And his _eyes_ , the normally friendly brown eyes were crazed, flitting across the battlefield wildly. 

His friend looked like a maniac. Something was clearly very wrong. 

What was even worse was the Senju forces surrounding him were also looking at him like he was crazy too. So whatever had sent him into his current spiral wasn’t something the other Senju were privy to. 

In a way that made it even worse.

Madara didn’t even really have more than a few seconds to think over his former best friend’s new appearance before Hashirama was surging towards him. He narrowly avoided getting entrapped by the rows of vines that shot up out of the earth on either side of him. 

His grand fireball did a good job of clearing a path for him to jump to the side, but before he could get far he was blocked by a giant wall of wood. Hashirama wasn’t far behind him, and he barely managed to vault over the wood just as his friend was slamming his fist into where he had just been, the impressive show of taijutsu cracking the wood wall apart. 

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Izuna and Hikaku trying to fight their way over to him, though they weren’t making much progress towards him as they were harangued by Hashirama’s cousin and another older Senju. It seemed that all of the Senju had decided to throw away the unsaid decision to stalemate their battles and were just fighting full out. 

His moment of distraction nearly cost him, because moments after he turned his eyes away from his brother he was face to face with a chakra draining wood dragon ruining the clearing their battle was in. 

A soft squeak sounded off in his ear as he dove out of the way, trying to keep himself from being smashed into the ground by the dragon. He felt blunt little claws dig into the slip of skin between his under armor and his plated armor, and a sudden jolt of terror shot threw him. 

Madara shifted his roll so he didn’t knock his bunny - his very very naughty bunny who was going to be getting a stern talking to when they got back to the compound - out of his armor. A mere second after he got his feet back under him the battlefield was bombarded by a vicious roar from Hashirama. 

Madara had always known that his friend was a bear hybrid, but Hashirama had never actually shifted - not even half shifted - in front of him. Yet now his friend was barreling towards him half shifted, even taller than he had been before, with a sharp set of claws more than capable of ripping Madara’s stomach to shreds with one swing and an even sharper set of teeth above that. 

He didn’t even have a second to think about what his next move was, from one second to the next vines were entrapping his hands, lifting him a few inches off the ground. He struggled against the vines, trying to get his hands close enough together to make the hand seals for a jutsus - literally _any_ jutsu. He didn’t manage it. 

Hashirama slid to a stop in front of him, a snarl curling his lip, right as Madara felt two tiny paws press against his shoulder. Hot little breaths ghosted against his skin right behind his ear as a tiny white head popped up underneath his chin. 

Hashirama sucked in a sharp breath, stepping forwards and plucking _his_ bunny right off his shoulder like he had any right to take him! His friend met his growl with a snarl of his own and without a second glance he turned back to his clan and called a retreat. 

Madara could do nothing but watch as his former friend - one who he had thought wanted peace to save the children of their clans - walked away with a _baby_ that he had stolen. He howled into the air, feeling himself instinctively shift even as vines captured the limbs of Uchiha’s all over the battlefield, including his own. 

The Senju fled the battlefield like the disgusting rats they were, taking Madara’s precious new friend with them. 

_____

* * *

Madara was fuming. He was more than fuming, he was about to erupt! His rage felt like it was boiling beneath his skin, like a giant fireball was building inside of his chest and just waiting to be spit out. 

How _could_ Hashirama?! 

Fighting a battle was one thing. It was something they both had to do until they could sway enough of their clansmen over to the idea of peace. It was why they tried so hard to stalemate their battles and tried to lessen the casualties within their clans. The battles were necessary, there was no way they could just unanimously call a ceasefire without their clans revolting. 

But to steal a _child_ from him mid-battle. To tear a _baby_ from the safety of his armor - granted his bunny never should have been hidden in his armor, how had he gotten there and stayed hidden until right when Hashirama had come towards him? - it was unthinkable. 

He had _thought_ that they both understood children were off limits. 

More and more he was realizing that perhaps Izuna was right...that his friend had for some reason lost his mind. There was no other logical reason for Hashirama to attack him like that on the battlefield, to completely throw away the years they’ve spent stalematting their battles just to try and actually kill him. Even that didn’t make full sense. If his friend had lost his reasoning why would he stop right before killing Madara? 

He had been right in front of him, heading towards him with pure anger in those brown eyes of his. But instead of killing him while he could, he stopped. And stole a bunny from beneath his armor. He had also called a retreat the second his bunny was in his hands. 

“Our clan has always been more suited to actions, Madara-sama.” 

Madara spun around, barely stopping himself from flinging the kunai he had brought to hand at his cousin.

Hotaru calmly walked further into the room, completely forgoing the taboo of not asking for permission before entering the clan heads room. Her unseeing eyes were unerringly trained on him even as she moved about the room. “We’ve never been ones for stewing on our emotions.” 

“What are you talking about?” 

“Your anger is roiling through the compound, Madara-sama. I may not have been on the battlefield, but I know something happened,” She said solemnly, “It you want to retrieve whatever was stolen from you, your best course is to use your anger as fuel.” 

Madara felt himself flinch, “What you are suggesting is all out war-”

“We are already at war.” She slowed to a stop right in front of the bundle of blankets he had nestled his bunny into. “Use you anger, before it burns you to nothing but ash and dust like it has so many before you.” 

She turned on her heel and sauntered out of the room before he was able to muster up a reply to her cryptic words. 

Out of all his clansmen, Hotaru was by far the creepiest. Madara didn’t understand how Hikaku could have married her. 

Perhaps she did have a point though. 

None of the clansmen who had been on the battlefield were injured, or even suffering from any real exhaustion. It might be best to use his current anger as fuel, and take the best fighters his clan had to launch a full frontal assault on the Senju compound. 

There was no point standing here and stewing in his anger. 

He wanted his bunny back and he would _get_ him back come hell or high water.

Without a second thought he redoned the few bits of armor he had already taken off and swept out of the room, mind set and determined on storming the Senju compound. 

Friend or not, Hashirama had crossed a line stealing a child from his clan - _the bunny might not technically have been from his clan, but he already considered him like his own child._ \- and in his mind that was more than a reason to declare a siege. 

\--------

* * *

“Hashirama!” Madara’s voice echoed across the ground in front of him. There wasn’t much room between him and the gates to the Senju compound, but his yell was still loud enough to echo. 

Part of him was surprised that he and his clan had gotten this close to the compound, but then again Hashirama should know he was coming. He had stolen something important from him after all. His former friend had probably warned his clan of the impending battle. 

Nothing happened for a few seconds after his yell. The whole grounds were still and silent, even the Uchiha’s assembled behind him were completely silent. 

Then the gates to the compound were opening, but surprisingly it wasn’t a battalion of shinobi that stepped out. It was just Hashirama. Hashirama, with his armor clinking as he moved, and a grim look on his face, like _Madara_ was the one who had done something wrong. 

“What do you want, Madara?”

Madara seethed. “What do I want? What do _I_ want?” He growled, not even trying to stop himself from half shifting. “I want what you stole from me!” 

“I haven’t stolen anything from you.” 

“Really?” Madara barked out a disbelieving laugh, “Are you trying to tell me you don’t remember _stealing_ a hybrid out of my armor. I know you may have your daft moments, but even you should remember that.” 

His former friend was staring at him as though he was the one who had clearly lost his mind. “I only took him because _you_ stole him first!” 

Evidently it was Madara’s turn to be confused. “How did I steal him from you? You’ve barely even known him for a couple of hours, he’s been with me for almost five days!” 

Hashirama growled and his little ears flickered and flattened back against his head. “And he’s been with _me_ since he was born, until you took him.” Madara was honestly surprised at how angry his friend sounded. “Do you know how I’ve felt these last few days? Trying to find him? I was going out of my _mind_ and the whole time he was with you.” 

Madara took a slight step back, the tension he had been carrying since he left his clans compound quickly draining out of him. Everything that had happened in the past few days flew threw his mind at a dizzying rate. But the more he thought about it the more it began to make sense. 

A random baby hybrid out in the woods, with no clans or civilians claiming him, Izuna’s claim of Hashirama being crazed and in the woods stuffing rabbits in his pocket. Even Hashirama’s reaction on the battlefield made more sense. Madara was probably covered in the scent of Hashirama’s wayward hybrid, and it would have been even worse given that said hybrid was lingering beneath Madara’s own armor. 

It also, looking back, made sense that his hybrid poked his head out of the neck of his armor when Hashirama had come near instead of covering beneath it once he realized they were in a battle. There was no way a bunny hybrid would have risked poking its head out of shelter without a good reason, and the scent of family nearby would have been more than a good reason.

And if the poor thing was a _Senju_ of all clans, Madara could see why he had been reluctant to change back. 

But what relation did his bunny have to Hashirama? 

He was fairly certain he would have heard of Hashirama having a child, or him getting married for that matter, but that was the only relation he could think of. Which put this whole thing into a new perspective. He could definitely understand his friends anger if he was really telling the truth, hell, _he_ had been beyond livid when his bunny had been stolen and he wasn’t the child's actual father! 

Madara shook himself back to reality. He felt deflated, but at the same time there was a little bit of hope rising in his chest. If his bunny had actually been Hashirama’s, then this whole thing was a big misunderstanding! He didn’t need to kill his best friend, his bunny was actually safe and hadn’t truly been kidnapped, and there still may be a chance for them to make peace in the future - provided he managed to clear this up and set his elders onto the path of peace. 

He cleared his throat and did his best to wipe his normally irritated look off his face. “I believe there has been a misunderstanding between us.” 

“And what might that be?”

“I had not realized that the hybrid was from your clan.” Madara said sheepishly, “I hadn’t realized he was from _any_ clan. The patrols I sent out to locate his family were only looking in civilian villages and our allied clans, not at our enemies. I didn’t think a hybrid that small or young would have been able to travel far enough to be from an enemy clan.” 

Hashirama didn’t look particularly convinced. “Truly? You just found a hybrid wandering the forest between our borders and didn’t think it might have come from my clan?”

“He wasn’t wandering our borders, he snuck into my armor while I was on patrol and I didn’t notice him until I was already back in my compound,” Madara said, conveniently leaving out the part where his bunny had only woken him once he had crawled up to his neck and was attempting to snuggle there. “I swear, I didn’t know he was yours.” 

The bear hybrid shifted from foot to foot in front of him. “What were you doing when he got into your armor?” He still looked agitated, but not nearly as much as he had been, and now it was tinged with uncertainty.

“I was tracking a scent and a flash of chakra, he must’ve jumped up on me when I was kneeling down to get a better trail on the scent.” Madara answered honestly even as a bit of heat creeped up to his cheeks at admitting that he didn’t know when exactly the other hybrid had gotten the jump on him. And it seemed his honesty served him well, since the last of Hashirama’s irritation left his face once he was done talking. 

“He must’ve thought you were me then.” 

That shocked Madara. How could _anyone_ , even a young hybrid, mistake the two of them? 

Hashirama rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “He’s partially blind when he’s in his full hybrid form...he must’ve seen the red armor and the long dark hair and assumed I was out looking for him.”

No wonder the poor thing looked terrified when he woke up that first time. He had thought he had gone home with his father only to end up in the same room as a predator, as a _Uchiha_ , and the Uchiha clan head at that. He must’ve been scared out of his mind. 

“Thank you for taking care of him, Madara.” 

Even as his clan shifted and murmured behind him he took a step towards the other clan head. “I wouldn’t harm a child, Hashirama, Senju or otherwise.”

“A...child?” 

Madara blinked. Why was Hashirama confused about his own child being called a child? “The rabbit hybrid, he’s a child is he not?” 

The other clan head just looked confused as he huffed out a disbelieving laugh. “Madara...Tobi isn’t a child.” 

“Tobi.” Well, if anyone would name his child after his icicle of a younger brother, it would be Hashirama. “You named your son after your brother?” 

“Wha - Madara, Tobi _is_ my brother!” Hashirama spluttered, his hands gesturing wildly as he stared at Madara with a look of utter confusion. “You took _Tobirama_ back to your compound, I don’t have a son - I’m not even married!” 

His brain must be melting. Yeah, that was it, he must’ve stood too close to one of his grand fireballs and got knocked in the head with the concussion blast. There was no way he had accidentally taken _Senju Tobirama_ back to his compound, mistaken him for a child and spent literal _days_ taking care of him like he was a baby. It just wasn’t possible. 

It couldn’t have happened. There was just no way. 

“No.” 

“No what?” 

Madara shook his head slowly. “No, your brother isn’t a rabbit hybrid. He wasn’t the one I took.” 

Hashirama frowned. “Tobi’s a miniature lop hybrid!” 

“No!” 

“Yes!” Hashirama shouted back, “He’s always been a miniature lop, and I know you had him because I pulled him out of your armor!” 

He had Tobirama Senju in his compound. He had him in his _bedroom_! He had thrown Izuna into the koi pond in front of Tobirama and Tobirama had _laughed_.  
“I need to leave.” Madara said hastily, before his clan and the Senju guards saw how red his face was. Before anyone could say anything he was full shifting into his wolf form and taking off into the forest, the sound of his clansmen running behind him filling his ears. 

Hashirama stood at the gate, pouting as he watched Madara run off into the woods. 

____

* * *

Hashirama walked into his room dejectedly. Madara had revealed that he hadn’t actually meant to kidnap Tobira and then he had run away! 

What was the point of apologizing if he didn’t hang around? He didn’t even get the chance to offer peace again! 

“I have good news Tobi!” Hashirama’s mood swiftly changed as his attention turned from Madara to his little brother. “Madara didn’t mean to kidnap you!” 

Tobirama poked his head out of the nest of blankets and clothes on his and Hashirama’s futon and squeaked irritably. 

Hashirama pouted. “What? He did kidnap you! He took you back to the Uchiha compound, Tobi! That’s kidnapping!” 

A thump and an angry ‘mrrr’ sounded out in the room as Tobirama hopped from his nest. 

“No, it was a kidnapping.” Tobirama’s ears flopped around his little face as he shook his head. “It was! Even if you thought it was me it was still a kidnapping.” 

Hashirama dropped down onto the futon and scooped his little brother up into his arms, petting a finger over the spot between those fluffy ears. “You really shouldn’t use your full hybrid form outside of the compound, Tobi, you know you can’t channel enough chakra to be able to see that well with your sensing when you’re in bunny form!” 

Tobirama chittered and snuggled down into Hashirama’s yukata, nosing the cloth to the side so he could squirm inside of it and curl up against his Anija’s chest. 

“Hey!” Hashirama yelped as a cold nose pressed against his bare skin. He let out a whine and tried to pry Tobirama out of his yukata, but Tobirama just burrowed further against him, “Tobiiiii! You need to shift back, not take a nap!” 

The little bunny just snuffled and hunkered down even further, defiantly stuffing his cold nose into that warm skin.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if you guys liked this! Leave me a comment or a kudos! 
> 
> And I promise Blind Mice will be updated soon, but I got distracted.


End file.
